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ThinkTech Hawaii produces 25-minute video on rail:

This ThinkTech video produced by Jay Fidell reviews the positions of four major Hawaii organizations that are opposed to the City's elevated rail project.

Pearl Johnson of the League of Women Voters, Donna Wong of Hawaii's 1000 Friends, Bob Loy of the Outdoor Circle, and John Brizdle of HonoluluTraffic.com cover the major flaws in both the Project and the way the City is mishandling the environmental process that is supposed to protect the public from environmental disasters.

 

date June 4, 2009.

Important video clip of Djou/Yoshioka clash on the proviso issue:

Next Wednesday, June 10, the full City Council will meet to vote on next year's budget. The most important expenditure in the budget is $1.1 billion, funded with City bond borrowings, to build the 6˝-mile rail line from Kapolei to Waipahu.

The Budget Committee on May 18 considered a proviso requiring the City to complete the Federal Environmental Impact Statement process before beginning construction. It was voted down 3-2 with only Charles Djou and Duke Bainum voting for it.

The proviso that Bainum and Djou were defeated on was,

“No funds shall be encumbered, contracted or expended for Land Acquisition, Construction,Inspection, Equipment, and Relocation until the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issues either: 1) Record of Decision for the DEIS, and any Supplemental DEIS, if required; and /or 2) Letter of No Prejudice.”

The environmental process is considered complete when the feds issue a Record of Decision (ROD). On November 5, 2008 Mayor Hannemann said, “I have always said that we won’t begin construction without a Record of Decision.”

So why is the Mayor, and his minions in the Council, objecting to a budget proviso requiring that he not begin construction until he gets a ROD when that is what he has continually promised? See our six-minute video clip of the Djou/Yoshioka clash late in the evening of the May 18 Budget Meeting.

Note that all a ROD requirement does is ensure completion of the federal environmental process — it has nothing to do with funding.

And this begs another question: The financial plan in the Draft EIS does not work because of actual and projected shortfalls in GE Tax collections by the State Council on Revenues (see the table below). The feds cannot approve the present unworkable plan yet the Mayor is making no attempt to shore up the plan by increasing taxes. Why?

Why is he objecting to the proviso and why is he not remedying the financial plan?

The only conclusion we can come to is that he fears he will not get the federal Record of Decision in time for his personal political agenda and, in that case, is prepared to forgo the federal process and funding altogether and instead go with a local environmental impact statement and local money. However, If he builds the first segment outside the federal process he jeopardizes getting any federal funds.  

Below is a six-minute video clip of the Djou/Yoshioka clash late in the evening of the May 18 Budget Meeting. Note that when they discuss the proviso, or the first part of the proviso, they are referring to the one shown in quotes above.

 

Architects produce video opposing elevated rail:

The Hawaii Chapter of the American Institute of Architects have recently produced a ten-minute video showing the elevated Miami Metrorail and the elevated sections of San Francisco Bay Area BART system. Also shown are some of the  recent at-grade light rail systems with emphasis on the new Phoenix system. The main purpose of the video is to show the financial and environmental advantages of at-grade light rail compared to the City's elevated heavy rail system.

Malia Zimmerman hosts Dr. PanosPrevedouros and Cliff Slater on her Olelo TV show, News Behind the News, to discuss the City’s million dollar brochure distributed to all Oahu households just before the rail referendum of November 2008. [Note: Turn off one video before going on to the next. Also allow 20 seconds for the longer videos to launch.


Dr. Panos Prevedouros presents “Effective solutions to Oahu’s trafficcongestion problems,”  to the OMPO Citizen Advisory Council.


Dr. Panos Prevedouros presents “Effective solutions to Oahu’s traffic congestion problems,” to the OMPO Citizen Advisory Council.

 

Malia Zimmerman hosts Dr. Martin Stone PhD, AICP, and Cliff Slater on her Olelo TV show, News Behind the News, to discuss the Tampa Reversible Express Lanes and the City’s rail transit proposal.

 

Videos of computer simulations of HOT (Managed) lanes exits and entrances, which you can view at the bottom of the page this links to.

 

Videos of computer simulations of proposed Low Clearance Underpasses at critical congested intersections.

 

YouTube Collection — Miscellaneous videos not yet cataloged.

 

Now online with recorded video are all the Council and Council Committee meetings from February 2007 on. At last we get something for all the taxes we pay.

 

So you think that the City is only going to build the 20-mile line? See and hear Abercrombie speaking to (shouting at?) Kapolei Rotary.

 

On Wednesday afternoon, September 5th, 2008, the Council's Executive Matters Committee discussed a bill restricting the use of taxpayer funds for advocacy of a pro-rail position without the opposition being given time to rebut it. The City's position was that the opposition (Stop Rail Now and Honolulutraffic.com) was putting out so many "lies and misrepresentations" that the city had to respond to this "misleading and false information" "with the truth." He added that "most of the statements are not true." Cliff Slater responded that all Honolulutraffic.com's information was footnoted and sourced and if anyone is lying it is the city.

Fortunately, all of this is on video and since it is a two hour tape we have provided a time line below:

0:24 — DTS Director Yoshioka begins testimony on bill 01-189 regarding rail transit advocacy.

1:08 — Corporation counsel begins testimony.

1:32 — Cliff Slater begins testimony.

1:40 — Council begins discussion and with legal counsel.

2:08 — End of proceedings on

 

Watch the Mayor dodge Panos' loaded question:

During the debate last Tuesday, September 9, 2008, Dr. Panos Prevedouros asked the Mayor, "Your own city studies show that traffic congestion in the future, with rail, will be far worse than it is today. Is that true? Yes or No?" The Mayor totally dodged this because he knows full well that the answer is "Yes" but the viewers do not know that traffic congestion will indeed get worse with rail. Watch the Mayor duck and dive during this video.

 

date October 14, 2008.

Former Governor Ben Cayetano decries City rail promotion:

During a Stop Rail Now press conference yesterday, Governor Cayetano said that, "I have never seen such a blatant public relations that distorts the facts and manages the information." Check out the coverage below by KHNL Channel 8.

Cayetano was commenting on an email message received by Stop Rail Now from the FTA, which said, "It is far too early to tell whether Honolulu's proposed rail project will receive New Starts funding. The project hasn't yet been accepted into the New Starts Program."  (Explanation: The New Starts program provides federal funding for capital transit projects that pass a rigorous rating and evaluation process.)

"The FTA has been reviewing the travel forecast, the financial plan, the project justification, and land use criteria, which are all critical in determining whether the proposed project meets the criteria to compete for New Starts funding."


Find more videos like this on Ann Listens!

date November 3, 2008.

Finally the City admits that traffic congestion with rail will be worse than today:

The two-hour debate this morning on KHVH, the Rick Hamada Show, the panel consisted of Mr. Michael Schneider, Managing Director of Infraconsult LLC, which has an $11 million contract to work on the rail project, Mr. Wayne Miyashiro, Director of the City's Transportation Department, Dr. Panos Prevedouros, Professor of Traffic Engineering at UH, and Cliff Slater, Chair of 'Honolulutraffic.com and Co-Founder of Stop Rail Now. During the two-hour debate (the 2nd hour of which can hear on the podcast) the City's representatives agreed that while the rail transit proposal would reduce traffic congestion somewhat, it will still be far worse in the future with rail that it is today. Here is a four minute clip of that part of the podcast